The Arab Letter
by Sara Nublas
Summary: Prentiss is required to work on a delicate case separately from the team. Her integrity is challenged when she has to choose between following orders and pursuing the truth. Prentiss-Morgan oriented. All team involved.
1. Chapter 1

**The Arab Letter**

_**By Sara Nublas**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the tv series **_**Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 1:

The BAU had been quiet for a while, which was not a good sign. The calm before the storm. The team members were walking around the office in an atmosphere of suspended tension, waiting for something terrible to come, one of those cases not easy to forget once back. The endless piles of paperwork they were filling in day by day looked like the omen of an imminent catastrophe… but at the moment it was just an infinite pile of boredom. Since JJ was gone the task of filtering potential cases for the team of profilers had been taken by the whole group, weekly they had meetings in which each one of them would present a case of possible interest for the BAU and, after discussing them, they would decide which one was requiring their attention.

That morning as usual they gathered in the conference room, the inactivity of the past weeks had weakened the mood of the team, it was like observing some kind of zombies lazily dragging themselves around in a grotesque Halloween rehearsal. Reid was even more talkative than usual, for every insignificant detail he would propose stories, anecdotes, lectures to which the group was reacting more and more annoyed every time; Rossi in particular had established a special visual code for these situations, escalating from a simple and sharp glance, to eloquent gestures, to a storm of curses in Italian which made the situation exotically hilarious for the rest of the team. Garcia initially happy with all the team around and the periodical girls nights with Emily, was starting to get bored by the daily office routine. Hotch though displaying his usual serious and impassive expression, was truly appreciating the chance to spend some time with his son, his mood was more cheerful and in some occasions he would display a smile and even play along with Garcia's jokes. This pause from the frantic routine of the job was becoming a source of troubles also for Morgan and Prentiss. A couple of months before they had worked on a case that forced Emily to come to terms with her past and Morgan had been at her side all the way, finally they realized that something between them had changed, that they couldn't deny a deep connection way stronger than friendship had grown. In the beginning everything seemed perfect and meant to be, but soon their relationship started unraveling in an endless series of set-backs and question marks. First problem was how to handle the situation with the team, hide and wait or lay the cards on the table? Then all the complications given by being partners in the private life and on the job. On one side they could really understand each other, aware of how draining the things they observed on a daily basis could be and how this could affect them even after the case was over; on the other side they knew the risks of the job, none of them would ever step back in front of a dangerous situation in order to catch an unsub, but watching your partner being involved in a risky situation was unbearably hard. The last time they faced the subject they ended up having a rough discussion and after that the fear of loosing their relationship and their friendship and the uncertainty on how to deal with it prevented them from approaching the problem again. Now what they wanted most was a case to work on to keep them away from their personal issues. Still the situation was definitely awkward, and that morning sitting close to each other at the round table they were both thinking where they would end up and if taking that step hadn't been a huge mistake.

While the whole team was trying to gather some concentration and to find a valuable case to work on, Strauss came in. Her expression serious as usual, in her gestures a slight uneasiness "Agent Hotchner, I need agent Prentiss, I assume you can complete your meeting without her.."

The profilers exchanged reciprocal interrogative glares.

"Ma'am can I ask you what is agent Prentiss is needed for?" asked Hotchner.

"That is a classified information agent Hotchner, superior orders I cannot and don't want to discuss with you now." Strauss answered dryly, then to Prentiss "agent Prentiss, in my office". For some reason every words coming out of that woman's mouth always sounded mean and aimed at making them feel uncomfortable.

In five minutes the mood of the team shifted from boredom, to curiosity, to concern. JJ had been taken away the exact same way, superior orders dictated her transfer at the Pentagon, and now another member was suddenly summoned for a secret reason.

On her way to Strauss' office Emily mentally revised her last months: nothing out of normal, no report or complaints on her, no calls from other agencies, no reasons to think that Strauss was suspecting something about her and Morgan, they had been really careful... This train of thoughts was crowding her mind when she entered Strauss's office and found there the last person she would have ever expected to see again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Mohannad?" she said walking through the room, in her voice a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Salam alequm, Emily" said the arab man walking toward her, his dark eyes shining. He was a tall charming man, approximately 60 years old, wearing a gray tailored suite.

"Alequm salam" she replied automatically, still not understanding what to expect by that situation.

"I believe you already know Mr. Hassan, agent Prentiss" Strauss intervened to explain the situation, "He requested assistance in a delicate case in which your knowledge of Arabic language could be of great help".

"Sit down Emily" he kindly pointed a chair.

Mohannad Hassan was a member of the Lebanese Embassy in the USA. A brilliant man of fine intelligence and great diplomatic capacity both highly necessary qualities for his job. He and Emily met when she was living with her mom in the Middle East. Emily was a stubborn and angry young woman, whose priority was to disappoint her mother and to rebel against everything she was imposed to do. To her the Middle East looked like a chaotic ant-hill, always crowded, noisy, eventful. People didn't talk, they shouted waving frantically, that language so harsh so different so aggressive to her ears. The cities were pulsing traffic jams overflowing with cars and people, the streets clots of chaos where laws, rules, signals and traffic lights were reinterpreted according to the necessity of the driver. The air was constantly impregnated with aromas and spices she had never smelt before. She decided she hated that place. One day she met Mohannad, who at that time was working with her mother. He patiently opened a breach in her shield of stubborn rage and introduced her to a new world. She could still remember the first thing he told when he took her to the _shuk_ the market, the vibrant heart of the city, "I am not going to tell you what I think of the Middle East, I just suggest you to learn as much as you can and then to shape your own opinion, not just in this case, but in every circumstance of your life". She followed his advice, she studied Arabic, talked to people, traveled to different Middle Eastern countries, she learnt to appreciate and respect the cultural differences. She learnt to go beyond the first impression, to scratch the surface in order to find the truth and she dug tirelessly. This attitude made her the woman now sitting in front of her old friend.

He drummed his fingers on the table and cleared his voice "A week ago a minor radio station in Washington DC received a phone call, saying that there was a bomb in a nearby public high school. The bomb squad found an unexploded device and a letter written in Arabic, declaring the next bombs would explode, in the name of Allah. The telephone a disposable cell phone, the voice altered and the audio too compromised to get something out of it. The anti-terrorism is dealing with the case, they have been following a lead since a while. But the detective who intervened on the scene decided to play Rambo and to find the terrorist by himself, he fueled a wave of fear and panic and when an anti-Arab demonstration was organized the Arab community concerned by this situation contacted me. In the end the police brought in a suspect, his name is Saed Hassam, 29, he studies international cooperation, impressive grades, awards and fellowships, born and raised here, his parents are from Lebanon. They are keeping him on the basis of a diary full of letters, they suspect it's a sort of code.." he raised his eyes to the sky.

"Do you believe they are wrong?" asked Emily

"What I can say is that Saed is a pacifist, he believes in dialogue and communication, he refuses any form of violence."

Emily took a moment to gather her ideas and answer, her tongue running on her upper lips "Mohannad, you are asking the BAU to step into an ongoing investigation on a suspect terrorist, when we have not been invited, the local police and anti-terrorism are already working, and the suspect is a friend of yours, besides if the detective doesn't accept the authority of the anti-terrorism how will he accept the BAU's support?" asked Emily

"He accepted in letting you talk to the suspect, view the letter and the diaries and give a profile, how much he's going to consider your opinion it depends on how convincing you are" Mohannad answered crossing his hands under his chin.

Suddenly Emily stiffened "Hold on Mohannad, wait a second." She forced herself to breathe and count mentally up to ten "You already told him the BAU was going to give a profile?" Her patience wearing off "Mohannad we have a procedure to follow, we evaluate together the case and then all the team decides whether or not to work on it. You cannot drag me here in secret and oblige me to put the team on this case" she couldn't understand how such a reasonable man could just decide to act above the law and throw her in this hornets nest.

"Not all the team Emily, only you." Intervened Strauss at her shoulders

At that point she understood. They were making a scapegoat of her. She slowly turned to Strauss, trying to remember how did she get in that situation, the grotesque downward spiral of a kafkian character, "Right, so you receive pressures to intervene in a possibly compromising case, you cannot refuse, so you minimize the loss. You put only one agent on this job so if something goes wrong and some heads have to roll you won't loose all the team, just me." Her tone was scarily calm, they were throwing her in the lions cage and they didn't even have the decency to tell her in the face.

"I can see that the years didn't change your attitude" Mohannad commented with a bitter smile on his face "I just want you to know that I am aware of how delicate and complicated is the situation and I am sorry to put you through all this"

"Well apparently nobody likes the situation here, but it's my career on the plate not yours" Emily stood up from her chair walking toward the room, she exchanged a silent death glare with Strauss, she knew the woman had her hands tied and was trying to contain the consequences of a political accident, but nonetheless she couldn't help hating the guts out of her.

"And I suppose I am not authorized to speak about this case with anybody of the team.." she sarcastically commented while fumigating.

"I believe it is not a good idea, you well know the solidarity your team is capable of and you don't want to put their career in danger, do you?" said Strauss, her voice again inexpressive.

The great damn cherry on the top of the pie: assigned to a career-wise suicidal mission and obliged to the vow of silence with her team, with her friends, with Morgan. The only choice she had was to work this case in the most cautious way possible and hope for the better.

While walking down the isle to her desk her colleagues looked worried at her furious and frustrated expression. _Reid could talk to Saed, analyze his body language, detect signs of stress, Rossi and Hotchner would smooth the relationship with the local police, Garcia could do miracles with the phone call, clean the voice tracks and check for match with Saed's voice. I would go with Derek to the Saed's apartment to his neighborhood and to the school where the bomb was found. We would reconstruct his life, we're terrific when we work together. And he would give me advices and calm me down. Instead he is staring at me concerned, his look darker and darker, and I can't give him a damn explanation._ Those thought were rumbling in her mind when Hotchner approached her "Prentiss, we've got a case in Kansas, wheels up in thirty you will be briefed on the plane"

She just had the time to open her mouth that Strauss' voice anticipated her "Agent Hotchner a word in private please" then she gave a look at Prentiss dismissing her as if she was an obedient puppy following the voice of the master…

Mohannad reached her, "Don't be upset Emily _Yaum hassal, yaum bassal_, one day honey one day onion!" he said with the tone of who always win eventually. He and left her at her desk with Reid and Garcia getting closer to be briefed, Morgan didn't move from his chair, she could feel his gaze on her, scrutinizing her expression, her moves, he would know immediately there was something wrong, she simply couldn't fool him. After few minutes spent in dodging her friends' questions she lifted her eyes and noticed Derek's chair was empty. She reached him in the parking lot, he was silent, his jaw contracted, not a good sign. He patted him on his shoulder and he turned, those eyes so painfully sincere, his face so honest, asking for the simplest thing: an explanation.

"They want me to work on a case, alone. I cannot tell you more" she said aware of how much he would have worried.

"And who's the guy talking Arabic to you?" he said trying to control his temper.

"Mohannad Hassan, he used to work for my mother" she limited to say, she didn't feel like using the word 'friend' anymore. He could have contacted her directly, he could have warned her, he had known her for so many years. She was feeling so hurt and left alone to face an unwanted problem, the words came out before she could control them "I know you are upset and worried and full of doubts and my terrible character doesn't help, but don't give up on us, please" She desperately needed to know that at least one thing in her life wasn't crumbling, that despite all the ups and downs they had lately, he still felt for her the way she felt about him, her steady point, her balance. It was actually the first time she was asking him to stay and try. It was the first time she was admitting she was willing to take the risk.

He went on looking straight ahead away from her, his expression hard, his fists clenched, finally he talked "The jet is leaving in a few minutes, I have to go". He didn't look back when he entered the elevator.

**_I hope you didn't get bored with this chapter. Not much action I know, but I had to built the story somehow.._**

**_Review are warmly accepted :) thank you!  
_**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own the characters of the tv show Criminal Minds**

**The poem is a quote of "The Prophet" by Kalhil Gibran, I do not own anything**

**Again thank you so much for reading, reviews and comments are always very welcome and precious to me :)**

Chapter 3

When they entered the police station Emily needed some time to remember she was still in Washington and not in the wild Far-West. The chaos was reigning there, people running and shouting, telephones ringing with nobody bothered to answer, messy piles of paperwork precariously leaning on the few desks.

"That's it?" she raised an eyebrow staring at Mohannad "Where are all the officers and the detectives?"

"Cuts in the balance" said an annoyingly acute voice at her shoulders "Detective Bronco" he introduced himself.

A man looking like everything but Rambo, stopped a few steps from the profiler, he barely equaled her in height, he was thin like a nail, hollow eyes and a grayish complexion that not even his big mustaches could revive. His holsters was holding a gun definitely too big for him, Emily doubted he would have actually been able to extract it and point it at somebody. "They downsized us drastically during the last year. I do what I can with the last few men left here" he explained full of himself.

Emily imagined him with a cowboy hat, a tartan shirt and a star on his chest, _Sheriff Bronco._ She exchanged a doubtful glance with Mohannad, hoping this was a bad joke.

"Come with me" Bronco went on "I'll take you too the prisoner"

Prentiss frowned incredulous '_the prisoner'? Did anybody tell him that this is not Guantanamo? _wondered with growing concern while they were following that miserable beanpole. One thing was laughing at the comical picture of this little man who thought to be a sort of dark avenger, one other was to realize that such a jerk had a gun and the authority to rise a wave of panic among the people he was supposed to protect.

The interrogation room was unbearably hot and smelled like sweat, the dim light left half room in the darkness. 'The prisoner' was sitting on a chair half conscious, his head reclined on his chest, his hands cuffed, in front of him a bottle of water, empty. Emily turned at Bronco who had entered the room with her, "I am conducting the interview alone" she said trying to keep her temper.

Bronco looked disappointed "I must point out Miss Prentiss that in this way I won't be able to protect you" he patted his hand on the oversized gun with a grin on his face.

"It's Agent Prentiss and we don't need handcuffs, do we detective?" she replied dryly.

The man reluctantly freed the suspect and sarcastically asked "Anything else, _agent_?"

"Yes, a bottle of fresh water and a glass, please" was her answer.

Saed barely raised his eyes when she sat in front of him. He was exhausted.

"Good morning or good evening, I don't know…" he mumbled.

"Mr Qasem, my name is Emily Prentiss, I am with the FBI. I am here to ask you a few questions" she said with her delicate but firm tone, the one which always gained her the trust of the people she was talking to.

Qasem chuckled "The DC police, the anti-terrorism and now the FBI, what's next? Rambo?" he finally lifted his face and gave her a look full of sarcasm.

_Nope dude, Rambo is already here, watching us from behind the glass…_ she answered mentally. Her sense of humor suddenly vanished though, as soon as she saw Saed's face in full light, the dark shadows under his eyes and the big bruise on his temporal lobe. _Someone has been busy in keeping you awake during the past nights_ her thought while she was taking a deep breath.

"Mr Qasem, do you know why you are held here?" asked Emily regaining her composure.

"Because they think I am responsible for the bomb at the school and for the letter" he answered trying to sit straight on his chair and brushing his eyes in the attempt to wake up.

"Are you?"

Saed stared at her for a few seconds, trying to detect the prejudice in her eyes, when he realized that the profiler was unbiased and genuinely trying to understand the truth he answered "Agent Prentiss, I wake up every morning at 6.30, help my father to open his greengrocery, then I come back home to have my breakfast and take my little sister to school, then I go to university. I have classes and lectures everyday, I never miss, when I am not in class I am editing some pieces for the journal, I come back home at 6,30 pm. Four nights a week I work at the Babanoushka, a Lebanese restaurant few blocks away from my apartment, I finish at midnight, I go back home and drag myself to bed, the nights I don't work either I go to have dinner to my family's either I go out with my friends or my girlfriend. Even if I wanted, which is not the case, I wouldn't have the time to build bomb. I guess you know that my subject of study is international cooperation, my family came to the States to give me and my sister a life without war and violence, I am a pacifist, I don't believe in terror" he had talked calmly, keeping his voice stable and low despite the tiredness. He coughed lightly, a grimace of pain.

"Mr Qasem?"

"I am sorry, I have a terrible headache" he rubbed his fingers against his forehead

"Have you seen a doctor?" she said indicating the bruise on his face.

"Oh, it's just a scratch, I just need some sleep" he justified with a faint smile.

An officer came in bringing the water she required. Emily poured a glass and handed it to him.

"Shukran*" he replied before drinking at small sips

"Afwan**" she answered, speaking Arabic after such a long time felt nice.

When she thought she gained his trust she asked again "Mr Qasem do you know why you are held here?"

Bronco and Mohannad were standing behind the glass in the adjacent room, so they could barely hear the words Qasem whispered to Emily in Arabic. She remained impassive, then asked "Mr Qasem would you give me your permission to read your diary?"

He frowned and chuckled. Probably it was the first time in a week he was asked something politely.

"S-sure, help yourself" answered opening his arms "I don't have anything to hide".

"I will talk to you soon" she looked at him standing up from her chair, she was sincerely determined to solve that absurd situation as soon as possible.

"Ma'a salaama, fursa sa'ida***" he told her with a smile.

As soon as Emily left the interrogation room her calm wore off, she didn't even leave detective Bronco the time to open his mouth "What happened to his face?" she stormed "and where the hell do you think you are? There are rules, protocols, you cannot hold a civilian with no water in a steaming room, keep him awake, beat him" the purpose of handling the case with cautiousness in order not to screw her career thrown out of the window.

Bronco shrank in front of her sharp tone, he seemed to become a little smaller, his complexion grayer, his eyes completely black like a shark, a pit of hatred and ignorance "I was doing my job, protecting my people" hissed back at her, his lower lip trembling.

Emily would have been happy to give that creepy fanatic an effective and colorful answer, to explain him that playing John Wayne was not his job and that strictly speaking Saed was part of the people he was supposed to protect, that starting a witch-hunt was just a way to spread panic, not to keep order. But she refrained herself, she had been invited there and as much as she hated the situation and _Sheriff Bronco_'s methods she had to be careful, they could dismiss her at any moment and she didn't want to leave before getting to the truth.

"I am aware of that detective" she tried to display the most condescending tone she could "Now I'd like to see Mr Qasem diary and the letter you found with the device".

For some reasons Saed had deeply impressed her, his dignity, his frankness, nothing on him was fitting with the profile of a terrorist.

"How did they even get to him, among all the possible people of Arab origin, why did they pick him?" she asked Mohannad while he was driving her back to her place.

"Everybody knows Saed in the community. He's politically involved, always joins pacific demonstrations, he founded an association for improving the integration of Arab people in the American society, once a week they meet, they talk of Arab culture, whoever is interested can go. A very dangerous individual…" he answered sarcastic.

Still it wasn't enough. Emily went on staring at him waiting for more.

"Ok, do you know how did they find the diary?" he asked cupping his left hand around his cheek, his right hand drumming on the steering wheel. His gaze now was almost amused "He opened his house to them" he finally said "he let the police enter and search his house without a warrant, now you tell me what sort of terrorist would do that? They found his diary on his bedside table, near a copy of the Qu'ran, as if every Arab who reads the Qu'ran and writes a diary is a threat to the nation. No matter if we are model citizens, they find a bomb and we become immediately the target of their fear and blame.."

Emily frowned "They found a letter in Arabic, Mohannad. It was legitimate to look in the Arab community. The question is whether the picked the wrong man or not. I want to read the diary and the letter to be sure, but definitely Saed doesn't fit the profile of a terrorist" she paused a second "this is the reason why I am here, right? To help to understand if Qasem is a suspect or not, regardless of race, culture or religion…"

He turned to her with an interrogative look.

"Look," she tried to explain "I can understand your frustration for the pressure this case is creating on the Arab community, and we can have this conversation in front of a cup of coffee once this case is over, but right now I am here to give a profile not to join a political crusade, and neither should you."

"Are you sure agent Prentiss? Because down there you seemed pretty determined to me" he pointed out sharply.

"Determined in finding the truth and protecting an innocent man unfairly prejudiced" she clarified "If you want to use this abuse for your political campaign that's your call, but I have carefully kept a distance between me and politics during all my life and things are not gonna change anytime soon" the discussion was over. Emily left the car promising she would have had a profile ready in few hours, the uncomfortable feeling of being caught in the middle of a political maze, and the more she would do to stay out of it, the more she would find herself trapped.

Entering her house she dropped the keys and her bag on the floor and went directly to her bedroom without even switching on the lights. She realized that moment how the work of the team was important, how precious and irreplaceable each one of them was. That day had drained her. She grabbed the phone from her pocket, a moment of hesitation biting her lips. In the end she dialed.

"The sexy queen of the hackers and supreme goddess of Mount Qantico greets your return to the world of the crime fighters! Welcome back agent Prentiss!" the usual smiling voice able to cheer up the gloomiest day.

"Hi Garcia, it's nice to hear you again. I kinda missed you" Emily said laughing and already feeling better.

"Understandable...Listen a bird told me that you are on a top-secret super-classified mission so I am not gonna ask you anything about that, but if you need some help you just have to ask and Penelope sneaky sneaky will find you everything you need, ok?"

Emily forced herself in keeping the tears from running, she felt exiled, she wanted her family back so badly and she wanted to be over with secrets and dirty games of power.

She took a deep breath to wipe the sadness away from her voice and asked "So how is the team doing?"

"Uhm, as far as I know, they are doing fine. We've seen worse, don't worry" the analyst answered "Do I have to worry, instead?" she continued then tip-toeing on a subject she knew was hard to face for Emily.

"About what?" Emily asked confused

"I don't know, for example about you and a beautiful, hot, amazing god of lust who we happen to work with.."

Emily couldn't help chuckling and not having the force to deny or to object she opted for the passive listening.

"I might be wrong -even though I exclude it- " Penelope went on "but I have noticed a hot'n cold bouncing between you two in the last month. If someone asked me to guess I would probably say that after a brief moment in which you both realized and accepted your reciprocal feelings, the twisted over-rational side of your brains switched on again and started to question everything inside and out and you two blacked out."

Silence on the other side.

"Emily? You there?"

A sigh. "I'm here"

"Mon amour, if you two were computers I would reset you, Ctrl+Alt+Canc, and voila` ready to go again, but I guess you just need to have faith in each other and jump"

_What if something is gone, broken? What if I am ready to jump but he is not? _She barely kept her sobs. _Can you loose something before fully understanding how much it means to you?_ She couldn't catch her breath at the idea, but she couldn't talk to Garcia about all this, not now, not yet. She ended the conversation on the verge of tears and went for a shower before getting back to her profile.

In the meanwhile the technical analyst got back to work in her little office crowded with monitors and all the possible odds-and-ends, when another call came in.

"Hei baby girl"

_Speaking of the devil…_ she thought, "Morgan I don't have the information on your suspect yet, still working on it" she answered without stopping her hands over the keyboard.

"I know, I am calling to know if you had any words from Emily, the team is wondering how is she doing.."

Penelope reclined on the back of the chair, playing with her fluffy pencil, "The team…" she mocked him, her malicious smile surfacing.

"Uhm, me and the team, why?" was the mumble in return.

"I don't know Derek, it might have something to do with you, for example, and a stunning, sensitive, brilliant multilingual profiler who we happen to work with.." she chuckle excited. She couldn't reset them but she could give them a little help anyway…

_Dear Lili,_

_Some days I feel hopeless. The hatred, the prejudice, the fear are so deeply rooted that I wonder if there is anything we can really do to change the state of things. We all made our mistakes and we now contemplate the results of our unwise actions. The least we can do is trying to put an end to this spiral of violence. I need to know that I am doing something to make this a better place for our children, that the legacy we are leaving them is not just death, intolerance and ignorance. That people can change and learn from their mistakes.. I know you are afraid but you don't have to. Our love is a diamond tower that nothing can scratch and it gives me the strength to never give up. You are my centre, you are my East. To you, to our future I turn my prayers._

Emily stared confused at the diary, the perfect Arabic calligraphy produced by a trained hand. Then she took the letter, the hand that wrote it was uncertain and hesitant, he corrected the position of the dots over the letters many times. The diary was written in an elegant, expert calligraphy, the level of the vocabulary typical of a native with a high cultural level, the letter on the contrary was the work of someone who started studying Arabic relatively recently, someone who had maybe been to Egypt. The differences between the different Arabic dialects were not major, but still easy to recognize to a trained eye like hers. And Saed was from Lebanon. How could they be so sloppy? The translation was inaccurate and incomplete, she could bet this was another result of Bronco's incompetence. That's why the anti-terrorism wasn't focusing on Saed, they knew he wasn't their man. There was no code in the diary, they were just letters addressed to a woman named Lili. She sighed at Bronco's blind inflexible obstinacy and his refusal to admit he had made a mistake. She had to find a way to make him reason before he carried his obduracy to the extreme consequences. She wrote down her final profile.

Then she got back to the diary, Saed had copied fragment of one of her favorite poems.

"_Your children are not your children_

_They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself._

_They come through you but not from you,_

_And though they are with you yet they belong not to you._

_You may give them your love but not your thoughts,_

_For they have their own thoughts._

_You may house their bodies but not their souls,_

_For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,_

_which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams._

_You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you._

_For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."_

A tear ran down her cheek after reading that quote from "The Prophet", Kalhil Gibran had always been one of her favorite authors, his enlightened vision of life had always been an inspiration for her and for many other people believing in peace and tolerance. With this thoughts she fell asleep.

She was in a field of grain, all the plants were dead, burnt black corpses withered to the ground, nothing left alive till the eyes could see. Suddenly threatening clouds came up fast, making everything dark and gloomy and a sudden ring of fire arose from the ground trapping her inside. Derek and behind him the rest of the team, was screaming at her to hurry up, to cross the only fragment still left free from the fire before the flames got there, his hand leaning toward her, desperation in his eyes. She knew this was the chance to reunite with her family, to come back to the man she loved and be happy, but something was keeping her, she knew she had to stay there, something important had to be done before she could rest, something dangerous. The flames closed the circle and lifted up high preventing her to see Morgan or any other of her friends, an acute noise rising behind her. She woke up with a scream, her phone ringing. Mohannad.

She closed her eyes for a moment, swallowed and lit the bedside lamp, then she answered trying to deceive her concern "Mohannad, I am ready with the profile.." she answered then she checked her clock, 3.30 am, and she understood something was wrong.

A hesitation then Mohannad's tired voice finally came up "Saed is dead, Emily"

"No" was her incredulous answer "we left him few hours ago, he was fine, I am reading his diary now, and the letter, he definitely didn't write it, he's innocent" she said in a broken mumble.

"The paramedics said his brain was bleeding, probably it had been bleeding for a while slowly, and when the symptoms finally showed up it was to late. There will be a routine autopsy and then it will be over" Mohannad's voice was totally emotionless, not a hint of rage, not pain or sorrow in his voice.

"Where is he?" Emily asked

"Emily, there is nothing you can do now. I am sorry I put you through all this, but it's over. You don't need to come over tomorrow"

"What does it mean Mohannad? I am a witness, I was there, I have seen how they treated him, I have documented the inaccuracy of their investigation, the criminal inefficiency of that detective." She answered rising her voice.

"Emily, this morning you were concerned for your career and now you want to risk your credibility accusing a cop? Who is going to trust a profiler who attacked a cop?" he stopped her with a condescending tone.

"And you were so concerned about this man to put my career on the line this morning. And now you don't seem to care anymore. So was Saed or your little orchard you were worried about?"

"Emily you are talking random" he said, a note of impatience rising.

"Mohannad, how can you sleep at night? When did you become this cold, ruthless politician? When people stopped meaning something to you? Did they promise public apology for accusing the Arab community in exchange for your silence?" Emily was starting to understand how deeply she has been manipulated, a puppet in a show she had never had control of. Nobody ever cared of Saed; Bronco wanted to demonstrate he was smart enough to catch a big fish, Mohannad wanted to protect the image of the Arab community. That poor, honest man who was caught in the middle was a justifiable victim in a mean cocks' fight. He died in silence and nobody would have cared of giving him justice.

"Emily I understand you are upset, but bigger interests that you cannot know are on the stake here. In this case a casualty is acceptable for a bigger purpose"

"Where is he?" she hissed back furious

"At the morgue"

She hang up the phone without listening further and she grabbed her badge and gun.

Mohannad entered the morgue with uneasiness, he was used to play his games in way more refined environments, what happened between his decision and the result of it was not his concern. He stopped few steps away from Emily. "I need to talk to you, there are some important developments in the case."

Emily reluctantly turned her face to him, she really didn't care. An innocent's life had been taken uselessly, because of blind obstinacy and political interest. No one had really paid attention to Saed's words, they didn't care, he was the victim of a witch-hunt fueled by fear, panic, hatred, but no pursue of the real truth. The witch had been burnt the village could sleep tightly.

She reached Mohannad waiting outside of the morgue, no affliction on his face, no sorrow. Just a hard expression, when did it happen, when did it turn into that new despicable person?

He barely looked at her, he let the words come out fast, almost casually "they found the terrorist, he called the radio, placed the bomb, wrote the letter…I read your profile, you were right; he spent three years working in Egypt where he learnt some Arabic. He is part of a white supremacy group, they used the Arab letter to derail the investigation. Now everything is over, the Lebanese community reputation is preserved, the bad guy behind bars, you haven't lost your job and no one got hurt. You see some days promise onion and instead in the end they bring honey" he recalled the Arab proverb he had told her that morning, trying to smooth her rage.

He turned to go away, while Emily was silently looking away from him, tear in her eyes, then he changed his mind and stopped asking one last curiosity "What did Saed whisper to you in the interrogation room?"

"He explained me why he was there" she turned to look at him "_Makedroush hal homar kedrom hal bardaha"_

He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and smiled embarrassed looking at his shoes "Another Arab proverb: they couldn't beat the donkey so they beat the saddle"

"He knew he was a scapegoat, chosen because of your inability to find the real evil" her voice low, a knot to her throat.

Mohannad turned "Oh, come on Emily don't be sentimental!" he objected opening his arm and lifting his eyes to the sky, "you think you can change things but you can't, you just have to follow the stream and put this story behind your back. You did your job and you did it well. Stop."

She looked at him with all the rage she was capable of.

"What do you want to tell me Emily? Come on let it go…" he asked mocking her.

"Oh, Mohannad, I am not going to tell you anything, I will gather as much information on this case as I can and then I will shape my opinion, just as you taught me" she hissed back, his faced suddenly turned serious. She passed him leaving that desert isle. A black diary carefully hidden under her jacket…

When she got to her place it was pouring, she got soaked walking from her car to the main door. She was walking as a zombie, tired, frustrated, she couldn't help thinking she could have done more, she could have stopped all this and save Saed's life. Only at the last second she noticed someone sitting outside of her door. He was keeping his back against the wall, rubbing his hands against each other, his face worried, he'd been waiting for a while. As soon as he saw her he got up, his eyes dark and serious.

Emily stopped in front of him, not hiding any of her feelings, the weariness, the sadness, the solitude that someway in the last years crept up in her life, leaving her alone with her job and nothing else, and the awareness that she had given up the struggle against this totally wrong, unprofessional, messy, irrational feeling she had for the amazing man standing in front of her.

"Derek" she started uncertain on how to begin.

"Never" he interrupted her.

She gave him back a doubtful gaze.

"I'll never give up on us" he said before taking her in his arms

*thank you

**you're welcome

***goodbye, it was a pleasure to meet you

**to be continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right to the show Criminal Minds and to its characters**

**The other characters in the story are the product of my imagination as well as the story**

**Many thanks for reading the story so far and for the reviews, in particular to miaa29 and **

**sanctuaryforall for always giving me feedbacks :) **

**A big thank you also to all who alerted or added the story to their favorites. All this means a lot to me.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

Emily couldn't help taking Derek's words with a shade of diffidence. _I didn't expect to find him in front of my door, that's all I am saying_! _He looked serious and genuinely sincere in saying he's not giving up on us, just like he did this morning when he left without a word after I practically begged him not to leave me… The problem is that I feel complete when I am with him, and I am afraid to rely too much on this feeling.. _Emily-first started analyzing the situation while getting under the hot shower.

_You're so mean and hypocrite _kicked in Emily-second with the usual delicate touch of an elephant in a crystal shop _you've been sabotaging this relationship since the moment you realized it actually had a chance to work. It's your usual pattern you can't deny that. When a story has a shot and you find a man that could be right for you, you run by the hills or even better you make him run away. You put up a barricade, close up in your fortress and start finding the most stupid reasons to convince yourself that it's not gonna work and bla bla bla. Whether you do it because you are scared of commitment or because you think you don't deserve anything good in your life or because you think you are not enough for the other or for all the three reasons above, admit it, you do it, systematically. And it's so naïve and phony that you blame him for not swearing eternal love this morning._

_Fine. _Emily-first answered her alter ego with resent _you might have a point, in general.. But things are really not easy in this case. Not only do we work together, but we have colleagues and friends in common, basically we share a family. Yes, we may have a lot to gain but even way more to loose in case something goes wrong. When it's just the two of us it's frankly amazing, I haven't felt so happy in a long time. The little details of our private life that we discover __daily__, it's like dating for the first time but knowing each other since forever. The most meaningless occasions become precious moments that we treasure with incredible care. But when we are at work it's a nightmare. We have to hide from our colleagues, our friends, we spend most of the time lying. Do you know how despicable I feel every time? Not to mention the constant control on every glance, word or gesture. All the spontaneity between us gets obliterated when we are working and this means the 80% of the time. We are carrying on a daily effort to kill the magic and the spontaneity in our relationship. And how do you think is this going to end? Either we'll split up, either we start hating each other and then we'll split up.._

_Either you move on to the next phase and you make it public _Emily-second finished the sentence _unless you are too scared to do that…_

Emily answered with a grunt to her conscience and closed the conversation wiping the condensation away from the mirror, her hand traced on the glass a blurry arch in which she could see her reflection. She touched her face she looked exhausted. She was indeed.

* * *

Morgan noticed her tiredness when she joined him in the leaving room where he was waiting for her. "Prentiss, you should really get some sleep" he suggested.

_Thanks for the suggestion Mr Obvious_, she answered mentally

Emily looked at him with a mixture of uncertainty, pain and sorrow. How to tell him that she cared about him more than she would ever admit to herself and she really wanted this thing to work out but right now she really couldn't focus on that? There was some unfinished business she had to take care of, in the specific she had to throw her career out of the window in order to uncover the truth on an innocent's death.

She had always known that she was doomed to sacrifice her personal life in order to help someone else. Some people just live for themselves, what they do is finalized in achieving their own happiness and in keeping safe the beloved ones. Some others instead simply cannot stand in a corner minding their own business. They feel compelled to help people and seek truth and justice; they carry this burden giving up their personal life, becoming lonely wolves, looking at the idea of an ordinary and happy existence like a mirage. They are aware deep inside that the force that draws them to long such stability is the same one pulling them away from it. They are not meant for an ordinary fate, they are just not ordinary creatures. Emily couldn't remember exactly when she signed that invisible contract, when she sold her soul to her job, her own interpretation of _Doctor Faustus_, what she knew was that she belonged to the BAU, she was meant exactly to be on that path.

She half opened her mouth trying to unwind in a logical sequence this cloud of thoughts, when Derek anticipated her "Look Emily, I am sorry for the way I reacted the today. This all thing is a new territory for me and I don't like not being in control of a situation, not knowing what's behind the corner, if it's jumping in the void together or if it's you suddenly closing up and running away." He paused for a moment monitoring her reaction, in someway he felt they had to make a decision about their situation but he didn't want this to sound like an ultimatum.

Emily looked at him, guilty eyes. She knew he was right, she had been playing hide and seek with her feelings for a long time, and Derek had been waiting patiently for her to make up her mind. But now it was time to end the game and she knew it.

Morgan felt helpless and guilty, she looked like a lost child, scared, defenseless, fragile. But at the same time a boiling fury started arising in him: no matter what, there was always a defensive shield, she couldn't help being so stubborn and obstinate in refusing his support, even though she was crumbling. She would have died to help him or anyone else in need, but when it came to her she would never ask neither accept any support. She had a tireless and incredibly annoying inclination to martyrdom and self-sacrifice, which drove him mad beyond his control. He took a deep breath trying to keep his temper and not to snap again, then he rose her chin to find her gaze and started in a calm, husky voice "Hey, it's been a hard time for both of us and I don't want to push you in doing something you are not sure of. I want to help you and to be here for you, but you have to allow me because frankly I am tired of chasing you, of trying to read what crosses your mind when you close up and hide from me, of asking myself if you care about us or if it's just a recreational affair. It's exhausting and if you don't trust me enough to give me some credit and rely on my capacity to help you and understand you, I don't see how this thing could possibly work".

There he was, Derek Morgan, this gorgeous human being whose path for some reason had crossed hers at some point, finally laying the cards on the table and speaking out his sacrosanct right to know what her intentions were. She had seen this coming for a long time and finally the bomb was landing on her in the worst moment, but in all and to her surprise it was a relief. He had unwittingly provided her frightened, weakling, childish alter ego with the perfect excuse she had been waiting for all that time to wear the lone fighter's armour and run away.

She mentally went through all the moments spent together, how their alchemy grew up during the years, the flirting and the lovely skirmishes, the perfect harmony on the job and outside, the solid friendship and the reciprocal support, when did the pleasure of the reciprocal company turned into a need she couldn't tell. The idea of loosing all this was utterly painful but even worse was the thought of getting him into this huge trouble. He would have done anything to help her regardless the consequences and she couldn't allow it.

She swallowed trying to look him in the eyes, making an effort to keep the tears, to turn her feeble trembling voice into an audible sound "Derek, believe me I have got a huge amount of respect for you and a great affection… I know you want to help me, but this is really something I have to do alone, I cannot ask you to join me. It's…that's it"

He looked at her impassive, his jaw contracted a little, then slowly but with no hesitation he got up and without saying a word he headed toward the door.

Emily stared at him while the tears were finally filling her eyes, now she could let her frustration go.

Just in front of the door he stopped abruptly, his hands crossed over his head, he nervously paced back and forth a few times, trying to resolve on what to do. Despite his exasperation he couldn't let go, just for the satisfaction of proving that he was even more stubborn than her.

He walked back to the living room on the verge of fury, in his eyes the determination of who is not willing to loose the game, no matter what. He pointed his forefinger at her and burst out with a scene "You are the most stubborn, selfish, impossible, messed up, masochistic woman I've ever met in my life. One day you open up to me, the day after you run away, one day we make plans for the future, the day after you start on a lonely crusade for god knows what top-secret assignment… And don't you dare telling me that you are ok with that, because you are sinking, you are not even believable, you are the worst liar I have ever met and you go on relentlessly keeping things from me like if you didn't know that it doesn't work, it's proved you can't fool me. I am Prentiss-proof! " For the first time since they met Derek Morgan was rising his voice with her "Now if you want me out of your life you tell me now, and I promise I won't be back. But if this is some kind of twisted, warped way to protect me, well Agent Prentiss I have got a shocking news for you, I am an adult man able to take my decisions by myself and I don't need parental-control-like protection from you. I want to put myself into troubles, then I do it with or without your consent!" He took a step back, inhaled for the first time since he started shouting and regained an inch of self control "Now you wanna tell me what's going on?" his voice placated, his eyes almost begging. It was the last chance, no more ways he could think of to make her understand how much he cared.

Emily was staring at him almost paralyzed. _Now are you gonna tell him or keep the stubborn proud facade and let him go forever? _Was the unspoken comment of Emily-second.

"Fine I'll tell you what this is about but you promise you'll stay out of it" she said drying her eyes, her voice still unstable.

"No" he answered, still tension in his voice.

She rolled her eyes back, and finally surrendered. "Just to be clear, I am not giving up because I agree or because I am less stubborn than you, it's just because…" she paused for a second to gather the courage to speak up the truth.

"What?" he urged standing in front of her, short in patience.

"… I don't wanna lose you" she said her voice cracking into a whimper.

He processed Emily's words for few seconds, standing still, then he relaxed his muscles and let go the tension "Woman, I swear you'll drive me crazy", he sighed deeply and sat beside her.

* * *

Emily recounted the whole absurd day she lived, the meeting with Mohannad, Strauss' veiled blackmailing and the way she found herself trapped in a squalid political game. The negligent work of the incompetent and narrow-minded Detective Bronco, the interrogation of Saed and the compelling feeling it arose in her, then the diary and the letter, the ominous news about Saed's death and finally the confrontation with Mohannad. "I cannot just turn my back to this story and pretend it never happened. I owe Saed the dignity of the truth, at least that. And I don't care if in order to do that I have to cross the boundaries and risk my career.." she concluded in a compelling tone.

"Emily…"

"Look Derek, we see horrible things, we deal with the most deviant minds, we stare at the abyss daily. What brings me back home with my mental balance still in one piece every time is knowing that I have myself and that, no matter what I see, nothing is going to take away who I really am, my integrity, my honesty. Because at the end of the day this is all we are left with. If I gave up on this I couldn't see any difference anymore between me and the monsters we chase. I need to do the right thing, despite the consequences"

Derek chuckled, a smile coming up to his eyes and started where she interrupted him before "as I said Emily I am going to stand by your side"

There was no way to persuade him not to join her in this suicidal crusade.

"You have to tell Hotch" he insisted "he doesn't know anything about this story, Strauss just hinted at a translation job she was requiring you for, he had no idea you were sold to a political game. He and the rest of the team will stand by your side"

"But Morgan, this is exactly what I want to avoid. Having all of you risking your career and more for a case that…"

"Em, we're a team, we have each others back, always" he closed the conversation.

* * *

The sun filtering through the curtains woke up Emily. She just remembered telling him to stay and then at some point sleep overcame both. She extended her hand to the other side of the bed to find it empty, whispers coming from the living room.

Morgan was standing in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in one hand and his phone in the other "Baby girl, you know you rock, don't you? I love you Beautiful! See you later" he greeted Garcia laughing flirtatiously.

Listening to Morgan and Garcia flirting and mocking each other never failed to make Emily smile, she was frankly amazed by their never-ending repertoire.

When he noticed her he smiled back and pulled her closer kissing her gently on her forehead; he smelled like sun and coffee.

"It's nice having you around again" she smiled finding her way through his arms.

"You say that just because I made you coffee" he mocked her

"Yep, I see that. Are you trying to bribe me in some way?" she went on the same line

"No, just to smooth you" he said still keeping her close

"Morgan?"

"I called Hotch and hinted him something about your case, the team is coming back from the field, they'll be at the BAU in few hours. In the meanwhile I called Garcia to run a control on your friend Mohannad, Saed Qasem and _Sheriff _Bronco" he said this last name with a note of irony remembering the description given by Emily, "I have to say I really want to meet him. I also would like to go through the diary again but there I need you because Arabic was not my favorite subject in high school."

She chuckled and cracked a smile, "Why are you in such a good mood today Agent Morgan?" she nudged him in the shoulder.

"I don't know, nothing particular… I slept well, I woke up with a beautiful Princess at my side. You know, ordinary stuff"

"Uh, a Princess! Tell me more about her" she played along with a flirty smile.

"Well, let me see. She's beautiful, her hair is like ebony and her skin alabaster, her eyes could charm anyone… but she's awfully stubborn and pigheaded and she's definitely a tomb boy with the innate ability to put herself into troubles and refusing chronically any help. She is basically impossible.." he chuckled satisfied with his description.

She pulled him away, looked him with a scolding glare and then grunted "Ah, and you claim to be a profiler?" she finally headed out of the kitchen after elbowing him.

"Hey, stop hurting my ego! I am a hell of a profiler and you are impossible as a matter of fact" he replied displaying a grimace of resent.

"Well this hell of a profiler just burnt his chance to join the beautiful Princess in the shower" she yelled him back showing him her tongue and disappeared into the bathroom just in time to see his disappointed grimace turning into real worry.

"Hey Princess! That's not funny, and not even fair. Come on!" he protested running to the bathroom's door before she could close it completely.

She laughed amused and dragged him into the bathroom, thinking that actually those would be the last cheerful and playful moments before going back to Saed's case. She thought about the diary and the woman those letters were addressed to, she would have never seen her lover anymore.

She felt incredibly and unfairly lucky while closing the door of the bathroom behind her and Derek.


	5. Chapter 5

**So, the last chapter didn't seem to spark much interest.. Thus I decided to wrap the story up and to cut it short. Hoping you like this final chapter..**

**As usual reviews, critics and comments are very welcome and appreciated :)**

Chapter 5

As soon as they got to the BAU the playful atmosphere was dismissed.

The reconciliation of the previous night and the cheerful wake up had been just a short parenthesis that Prentiss regarded with gratitude and guilt. While she was sleeping peacefully in Morgan's arms, someone was grieving for the loss of a son, a boyfriend, a brother.

Emily entered Hotch's office, while Morgan reached his desk, Reid getting closer to him to be briefed. In order to go and see her, he had left Kansas before the other members of the team who had finished wrapping up some paperwork without him.

"Hei," she started standing at Hotch's door without exactly knowing how to begin.

"Emily, " he cut her off with his usual serious tone, then something softened in his manners, " I have to apologize, I wasn't aware of the situation Strauss put you into, she lied to me but I should have checked more thoroughly and make sure you were fine. This time she crossed the boundaries and I opened a formal complaint for misbehaving and putting at risk your career and reputation. Nonetheless you are a member of my team and thus under my responsibility, I should have insisted in supervising this operation more closely."

"Hotch I don't see any reason for you to apologize. Strauss just lost her mind and decided to use the BAU as a laundry for her political schemes. On the other hand though I think she didn't have much choice. Mohannad has very good connections and can be highly persuasive" She made her point relieved by the support of her superior.

Hotch nodded, appreciating her comprehension, then he added "We will go over the case with you and help as much as we can, but you know the rule we cannot step into an investigation unless invited. We can try to put some pressure on this detective… what's his name, Bronco, to understand why you were called to give a profile and then your suggestions were discarded. If we manage to push the right buttons we may manage to have the footage of the interrogations and the results of the autopsy."

"Thanks Hotch I immensely appreciate it, I would also like to contact my mother. She used to work with Mohannad and maybe she can give me some more insight"

"It's worth the try" he responded before dismissing her.

* * *

Emily reported the case to the team in the conference room. When she finished Garcia was the first one to come up with a question "So Emily, a little help here. What's the story with the position of the dots on the letters? How can you say that the person who wrote the letter wasn't expert in Arabic and who wrote the diary was?"

"Arabic is a very detailed and precise language" the profiler answered "depending on the number and position of dots over the letters, the pronunciation and thus the meaning of a word can changes. It takes considerable amount time and practice to become fluent; on the letter left near the bomb there were traces of erased dots, typical of inexperienced writers, Saed's calligraphy on the contrary was flawless and without hesitation"

"She is right" confirmed Reid "this is also the reason of discrepancies over the interpretation of the Qu'ran, initially it was passed throughout generations orally, afterward it was translated into written form. Many people claim that during this process the original message was altered because of mistakes in the transcription and the interpretation deviated from the original content" he turned his eyes to Rossi expecting him to grunt over his digression but he didn't breath.

"It's alright kid, this time it was appropriate" commented Morgan with a hint of a smile.

The positive reception of his digression encouraged Reid to go on for more "..yes, infact an example is given by the nowadays debated interpretation of…"

"Reid!" Rossi warned him rubbing his fingers on his forehead, ready to shout at him a calypso of curses, and making the team giggle.

"Ok I think at this point we have enough information" Hotch intervened to give directions on how to proceed "Prentiss I want you, Reid and Rossi to go over the information Garcia provided on Mohannad, Saed and this _Sheriff_ Bronco" he borrowed the nickname she had used for the detective with an entertained note in his voice "Morgan, you will come with me to talk to the detective in charge. Let's see what he can tell us and if he's willing to share information on the case" Hotchner had willingly decided not to take Emily with him, Bronco would have felt his authority challenged by her presence and he wanted to avoid unnecessary frictions, moreover Morgan was an ex-cop and would know better how to handle the situation.

* * *

Once entered the department Hotch and Morgan realized what Emily meant when referring to 'the house of chaos' in describing that place. She hadn't exaggerated, it looked like the left-over of an Armageddon. Hotch wondered why, if the district was already so overwhelmed with the routine work, they had decided to take on a case already handled by the anti-terrorism.

Among the cloud of people a picturesque character made his way toward them, his walk was probably the result of endless hours rehearsing in front of a Clint Eastwood movie. _Sheriff_ Bronco had to stop his triumphal entry when an officer carrying a pile of papers stumbled and almost ruined over him. This moment gave Hotch and Morgan the time to exchange an incredulous yet amused glance.

While Bronco was introducing himself in his garrulous voice both the profilers had to choke a couple of laughs, that man would have been hilarious if only he wasn't a police officer with duties and responsibilities.

"Sher… ehm Detective Bronco" Hotch started "I am SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is SSA Derek Morgan we are from the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI, I believe you already met Special Agent Prentiss, she was here yesterday to…."

"Haaaa, yes that chick, I remember her. Tough one, I tell you. A bit defiant, but you know women…" he chuckled casting a fraternizing glance to the two profilers and suddenly regained his composure when they didn't respond as he expected.

"It's Agent Prentiss, that chick.." Morgan stated containing his temper.

"Yeah, she already told me.." as Hotch expected Bronco was more submissive with the two male agents, being challenged by a woman had been a provocation for him the day before.

"Anyway," Bronco went on "after your _agent_ went away I ordered to leave the _prisoner _alone until she returned with the profile." Morgan's brows furrowed in hearing the word _prisoner_, at first he thought Emily's description of him was exaggerated because of her indignation over the case, but now he was realizing that this guy was seriously a nut. " I guess she made a big deal out of it.. What happened with Qasem was an accident; you know how it goes, you question the subject and sometimes when he's particularly stubborn you have to go down a bit harder to get to the truth"

"Hard enough to make his brain bleed?" Morgan commented.

"No, no, no. Hold on, we are not responsible for that. We didn't, I…."

Hotch and Morgan were staring at that incompetent little man without displaying a shade of empathy.

"Look" Bronco went on more and more agitated "Yesterday none of my men questioned Qasem, and the coroner clearly stated that the bleeding started few hours before he died. The only person to talk to him yesterday was your agent and I was with Mr Hassan out of the room. He must have bumped his head somewhere by accident.." at that point the look of the profilers twisted in disbelief and their patience started to wear off.

Bronco went on with his defensive monologue "I can show you here the register of the people talking to Qasem yesterday, it's your agent and nobody…" he froze his finger on the page of the register.

"What?" Hotch pushed him

Bronco lifted his face turned pale and incredulous, looking at the two agent like a child who was stolen a candy and didn't see it coming.

* * *

The team was in the conference room staring at the screen where images of the interrogation room were projected from Garcia's computer. Bronco had given them access to everything. Videotapes of the interrogation room, files concerning the case and autopsy report.

The two men were speaking in Arabic, considering their tone it was not a friendly conversation.

"I presume Mohannad didn't tell you he came back to talk to Saed last night after you left the district" Rossi addressed Prentiss.

She distractedly shook her head in negation while staring at the screen.

"What are they saying?" Morgan asked

"I cannot understand exactly. Qasem is speaking about something, a document I guess, that will reveal the truth. Mohannad is reminding him of an agreement he has to honor. Qasem replies he was never part of any agreement and he is not going to make any deal with him or liars of his kind…"

Then the images showed Mohannad grabbing Saed's shoulders and shaking him violently. The young man in the attempt to get away from the snare, tripped and fell hitting his neck against the table. This was consistent with the report of the corner speaking of an emorragy in the occipital area, whereas Emily had seen a bruise on his forehead.

"He lamented headache when I was with him, maybe the bleeding had already started and then the fight with Mohannad caused an ulterior damage" she objected incredulous to what she had just seen. Mohannad was certainly a different man from the person she reminded but a murderer, she hardly could believe that.

"I am afraid it's unlikely, Emily" Reid intervened cautious "the report states the bleeding started few hours before his death. So it cannot be anyone else than Mohannad who killed him"

Rossi recalled some information he read that morning "Among the documents we went through there was a copy of a newspaper article written by Saed that was about to be printed for the university journal. He was reporting an accident in which a woman and several children got injured, a couple of months ago, a wall in a kindergarten in his quarter fell down. A teacher almost got killed and 8 children sustained minor injuries, but it could have been a lot worse. Saed blamed some of the leaders of the Arab community for not investing enough money in the care of their people, apparently the major cause of the accident were the cheap materials used during the construction. He was implying that a significant amount of money meant for the community disappeared from the public found. Garcia, can we see who was involved in the administration of those funding?"

"Checking as we speak, sir. And the winner is…." she looked at the profilers smirking "ah, there are various names involved but who proposed to cut down the expenses was our friend Mohannad"

"Well if Qasem was trying to link Mohannad to the accident, then this could be a valid motive to buy his silence" Reid commented while Prentiss was leaving the room to take a phone call.

"So Qasem being suspected for the bomb and taken to the police offered a perfect chance to Hassan. He shows up and promise to take him out of jail in change of silence, Qasem doesn't accept and Mohannad snaps. He gets away with everything and also appears as the good Samaritan who tried everything to defend and protect a member of his community" Morgan put together the pieces of the story gradually making sense.

"Yes but why stealing money from the community? What for?" asked Reid

"To pay his debts" Prentiss intervened entering again the room. "It was my mother on the phone. I asked her some information on Mohannad. Apparently he's receiving pressures to resign from his diplomatic career, rumors have that he likes gambling and to pay his debt he used public money. Apparently they had suspects for a while but now they have been confirmed, also thanks to the information Saed collected."

"I'll call the police. Garcia we need to find Hassan, he probably has immunity so let's contact the Lebanese Embassy" said Hotch while all the team was heading out of the conference room. "Morgan, Rossi, you'll come with me to Hassan's house maybe we are lucky and he's still there. Prentiss I want you to try to call him and keep him on the phone while Garcia tracks his position. Reid, go over Mohannad's documents and history again, see if there is some place in particular where he might be heading."

The team split to go and cover the different tasks.

Emily and Garcia headed to the analyst's office, when Emily's phone rang. She looked at Penelope "It's Mohannad".

* * *

Prentiss knew it was an unwise decision but there wasn't much choice and there was still the chance that Mohannad didn't know they were after him. So when he asked her to meet in the parking lot of the Bureau in five minutes she accepted. In the meanwhile Garcia was calling back Hotch and alerting the police.

The moment Emily reached him to the car realized her optimistic expectations were wrong "Seems I am not getting away that easy this time " he told her with a bitter smile "But I thought I owe you an explanation Emily. Let's go for a drive." He invited her to enter the car, a gun pointed to her chest.

"You leave your gun on the ground, no tricks. You do what I tell you, nobody gets hurt" he warned her.

Emily followed the indications. "Why?" she asked confused "If you knew we were after you, why coming here?"

"Because nobody is going to stop a FBI agent entering a bank and taking my money on my behalf" he explained while pointing her the driver's seat.

"Your money… you mean the money you stole from your community" she commented a disgusted expression on her face.

"I am not a bad man Emily. You know me, I would never harm anyone on purpose"

She shrugged "Your community, the children at the kindergarten, Saed…all unlucky casualties. Are your vices the higher political reasons I couldn't understand?"

"It wasn't meant to be like this. I didn't want to hurt anybody" he responded hastily

"And now you're pointing a gun at me… You know you are not going far with this, don't you? Turn yourself in now Mohannad before other innocent people get involved"

"Drive" he pressed the gun to her temple. He was loosing his calm; she slowly turned the key in the ignition and followed his directions.

They drove in silence for a while, then he started off "I gave him a chance. I told him to leave this story behind and we would be fine. He turned that chance down. I, I really didn't mean to hurt him. I came back home with the intention of giving my resignation the day after; then I received the news of his death and I thought maybe I could have a second chance. To fix things.."

"How? By taking hostage an FBI agent and running away with the rest of the money? I've got a name for this Mohannad and definitely it's not 'fixing'" she answered back

"You remember when you were a kid? When I was teaching you to love the Middle East? Our history, our culture. You used to listen to me back in the days, you respected me. Now you easily judge me with despise" he looked at her with painful eyes, his rage surfacing, the gun trembling in his hands.

"You were trustworthy and honest back in the days Mohannad" she stormed back "Damn it! The person I have become, it's also because of you, of the things you taught me about respect, honesty and integrity. What happened to you? How did you end up like this, selfish, dishonest, a murderer?" she was so upset, she couldn't understand how such a decent man with a solid moral code could turn in a monster. "I relied on you. I looked up to you. But the man sitting here, pointing a gun to my face, that man doesn't have anything to do with the Mohannad I used to know. I don't owe you anything more that despise."

They had been driving for around thirty minutes, they approached a bridge over a channel, flashing lights of police cars were visible in the distance at the far end of the bridge. Behind them other police cars and a couple of SUV, presumably her colleagues, were getting closer.

"Mohannad, it's over. Now I am going to pull over and you will give me the gun" she said calmly.

"Go ahead" he answered impassive, the gun still at her head.

"They're gonna shoot us, we can't possibly make it. Please, take your last chance to do the right thing"

He was trapped and he knew. He hit the gloves compartment with a fist, "I said drive ahead!" shouted at her pressing the gun against her temple.

Then everything evolved so fast, Emily pushed the accelerator all the way down and swerved abruptly. The car bashed into the wooden barrier and went out of the bridge almost without a sound, few seconds before the car crashed against the water she thought it was a beautiful sunny day.

The impact of the airbag made her unconscious for few seconds. She heard the noise of a gunshot and the car rapidly got filled with water, it was freezing. She couldn't regain full awareness, until she was almost totally submerged, Mohannad was not there anymore. She took one last, deep breath.

Emily, still shaky managed to unfasten the seat belt and leave the car. The water was dim even though the channel didn't seem to be too deep.

She could see upward Mohannad swimming frantically toward the river and other bodies jumping into the water tackling him. Then something came from behind locking her shoulders and pulling her, her forces fading, her mind clouding, she couldn't keep her breath anymore.

Almost unconscious she finally inhaled and felt something warm on her face. Sun. She realized she got to the surface, she was coughing and gasping, frantically seeking oxygen. Someone was dragging her to the bench of the channel. She was laid on the ground and Morgan was immediately at her side, dripping water after rescuing her, his face a mask of concern.

She coughed out a "I am fine" and then she rolled on one side to sit up.

Morgan took her face in his hands "Emily, you ok? Talk to me"

She tossed a smile "You were right… I am definitely a tomb boy"

"No, you're definitely out of your mind" he answered hugging her, not knowing if to give the priority to the relief for her being still alive or to the anger for her irresponsible behavior "seriously you have to stop doing crazy stuff".

The rest of the team circled around the two agents; even though not getting the full sense of the joke they were all happy and comforted to see that Emily was fine and her sense of humor still intact.

Not far from them she could see _Sheriff_ Bronco displaying a victorious smile and walking Mohannad cuffed toward the police car.

* * *

She gave a glance to Derek when the car stopped. He was at the driver seat. "Do you want me to come inside with you?" he asked though already knowing the answer.

"It's okay, I can do that" The morning was chilly, but a warm sun was coming out of the clouds. She knocked on the door and a minute after a young woman came to open. She had long blond air and despite the sadness in her eyes she looked beautiful, a hand gently caressing her belly, she wouldn't have been able to hide her pregnancy much longer.

"Lili Masters?" Emily asked with a smile

"You must be agent Prentiss" the girl answered

"Emily" she said while she was let in.

As soon as they sat in, Emily took a pause. She bit her lip and started "Lili, I was one of the last persons to talk to Saed, he gave me the consent the read this" she handed over the diary "I thought you had to have it. It's, he wrote it to you. He was a brave man"

Lili's eyes filled with tears and a smile came up while she was caressing the cover of the diary.

She nodded struggling to hold her pain.

After a while Emily left the house. She warmly hugged the woman "Anything you need you call me, ok?" then she headed back into Morgan's car.

He reclined his head and furrowed, he knew that in her place he would have done the same but couldn't help being concerned over her personal attachment to the case. "You know you are not responsible for what happened to Saed, right?"

She shrugged "I know, this doesn't mean I cannot do what I can to help a woman who lost the man she loved and father of her future child, a man I happened to know and to respect a lot.." she turned her eyes skyward, sighing "Come on you would have done the same…"

"I know, I just want to be sure you are fine." He said gently caressing her cheek, then he changed subject "Ready to go?"

"Ready to go" she smiled back. Again he saved her life, again everything was so perfect. She asked herself how long would that last this time, thinking of the possibility of making their story public and taking the chance. She couldn't help smiling.

* * *

The rest of the team was already sitting at the restaurant at a big round table. Kevin had come along with Garcia and also JJ had joined them with Will. They were all laughing at Hotch's description of _Sheriff_ Bronco's performances. When Derek and Emily joined them they were welcomed by an atmosphere of giggling and wide smiles; everybody staring at them like if they were expecting something to be said.

Derek chuckled shaking his head, Emily looked at him and then at the team interrogatively, finally she blurted out confused "What?"

It was Reid, who broke the silence to take a long time wanted revenge on Emily, starting to hum a childish motive with a smug on his face "Derek and Emily sittin' in a tree…"

Emily and Derek exchanged a glance and then couldn't help laughing with the rest of the team. He gently kissed her on her lips, finally making official something that all of them had been expecting to see happening for a long time.

It was nice being finally back from a tough day and spending time with family.


End file.
